The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-11-24

little uIckin seemed to be straining his
lungs TO read his lesson louder than the
others. &c reminded me Of the Ken
lucky manner of studying. thirty-fve
years since when first went there.
In 'front.' OF the cathedral is the plaza,
This Is provided with shade trees,
seats, etc, and where upon all festive
occasions bands Of music play.
AS one approaches this edifce, he is
impressed with the fact that it was
erected ages ago, not so much from its
look OF symmetry as from the worn con-
dition of its steps, over which SO many
Thousand have passed for nearly three
centuries.
Entering the spacious building,
nothing unusual for such buildings is
observed, except the wood was all hand
I carved, showing both skill and large
amount Of labor.
The material for the outside Is
usual adobe 50 generally used. The
walls should judge to be five or six
feet thick, and must have taken many
i years to complete them. Looking up on
the inside an unusual appearance Is at
top are cedar logs Of great length,
about foot apart. These are all carved
with pleasing designs, and all
about the same, except two which have
been replaced by. others without any
carving on them. Between these are
closely placed sticks of wood SO as to
prevent the adobe from falling down.
After inspecting the building we as
cended winding stairs to its tower,
from which we obtained fine view OF
the city, the river, Ell PaS0, as well as
the valley both above and below the
city.
There are large irrigating bitches
running through the city. This is alb
solutely necessary, as no vegetation can
live here without it. These bitches or
acequa, as they are called, extend foI
miles down the valley. furnishing
moisture to the whole valley along
branch out from these. irrigating
the vineyard, corn, vegetables, etc.
The soil on the Mexican side seems
much superior to that on the east of it.
| There Is much less sand in it, and it
produces far better.
Grapes raised here are much sWeeter
than ours and better than ours. One
popularity in their cultivation is that
they are cut back more than ours, and
the stems left standing and are
fastened together. This they claim is
them. This may result from the
peculiar variety cultivated but that does
not seem probable.
With proper irrigation all kinds of
small fruits and vegetables do finely.
The sweet potatoes grow to immense
size and are sWeeter than those raised
in Kansas. I have never seen finer
vegetables any where than grows in
the Rio Grande Valley.
1t is difficult to give any fair esti-
mate of the population of this
city, partly for want of tax
ing the census and partly
because it is so irregularly built, ex-
tending as it does for miles along the
river. It is !, however, variously esti-
mated at from 6, 200 to 1S GOO.
One cannot keep being impressed
with the great difference between the
class of citizens here and those of E
Paso. The Mexican is generally slow,
careless and Indifferent, and lacks that
push and energy so characteristics of the
American. With us any improvement
that seems to lessen labor or increase
profits will readily be adopted, but
with them it is different. The ways
their fathers followed still continue
and they dislike any innovations. The
lower class is treacherous, unreliable
and immoral. speak of them as 9
class, while many honorable excep.
tions can be found. The Weather and
better educated seem more intelligent
and possessed of more enterprise Still
1 left with feeling that it was no dis
grace to belong to a sister republic.
| C. B. r.